Nytemynde

Sweet. Thanks for the screenies!

Not a triple Icer myself, but here is some good intel on Ice Melee:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=186523

As for the Ice Epic, I went for energy because I feel I do just fine with Frost, Frozen Aura, and Icicles for my AOEs, and went Energy for Physical Perfection. That being said, I think you'll get a respectable amount of damage out of the triple Ice threat. I've a got friend that runs a triple Icer, and they seem to enjoy it, and deal a good amount of damage. Not as much as some of the other tank builds, but enough to be noticeable.

Yes please!

Just a couple of thoughts, and this is just based on my playstyle/experiences, so mileage may vary here:

Permafrost...having had a level 50 Ice/Ice on a previous account and being in the process of finishing off my second...I have never really liked this power. I've played with and without, and sit in the "without" category and don't miss it. You could easily drop this power, put Steadfast in Hoarfrost, and take Hibernate which would be far more useful. It's a great "Oh $h1+" power, and coupled with a two taunt slotted CE, makes for a useful combat save while holding aggro.

Now, as for slotting EA to get you to the softcap with multiple foes...personally, I would rearrange to already be at the softcap before EA. Main reasoning for this...those one on one times when you don't have multiple foes, and it's you holding back the GM/AV/EB/Etc from the rest of the group. That softcap will be exceedingly handy, and you'll notice the difference between 40 and 45%.

And last little nitpick, I did notice you slotting for a lot of cold/fire resist in your sets...I think you might get more benefit slotting for something else. This is just one of those things I don't slot for (I go more regen/recovery), and I just haven't ever been in a situation where I wished I had.

Anyhow, just my two cents.

Personally, as stated earlier, I slot two taunts in it. As for my reasoning, I am going to steal something from a snippet of coversation I was having with a SG member, and this was their reply to slotting CE, and it's something I agree with after using and seeing it in use:

"The two taunts slotted into Chilling Embrace are there so as to fully leverage Hibernate to its maximum capability. What I mean by that is that with those taunts slotted in CE, I can Hibernate for almost the maximum duration and not lose aggro. That's because the taunt duration on Chilling Embrace, with slotting is long enough to almost match the duration of Hibernate. This means that it's possible for me to just hit Hibernate without needing to use Taunt first in order to maintain aggro control while Hibernating (which spares teams a LOT of trouble!). It also means that my CE + Icicles "inhale aggro like a wind tunnel" (as I often explain to PuGs) ... and hold it. This then frees up my use of Taunt to do things in addition to simply maintaining aggro."

I four slot CE with two taunts, and two procs. As for slotting a slow in CE, it really doesn't do much for you. AS I think someone has mentioned, it just effects movement speed, and doesn't touch the minus recharge.

Personally, I agree with everything Aett said. Just an idea on the defense powers with Red Fortune, and I don't currently do this with my Ice/Ice tank (I frankenslot for regen/recovery with LOTG +recharge), but my blaster does this, you can "double dip" with a 5 slotted Red Fortune and get the global recharge bonus and put a LOTG global recharge in the sixth slot of each of those defense abilities, which will knock some time off of the recharge time for hasten.

Also, something to think about, Gaussian's is a great set with some great bonuses, but as someone else stated, Soul Drain might be better served being slotted elsewise. If you want more bang for your buck out of Gaussian's with the Build Up proc, you might want to consider taking Focused Accuracy and possibly slotting Gaussian's in that. I use it in Targetting Drone in my blaster, and it procs often enough for me to feel it is worth it. The downside is that FA is a bit of an endurance drainer, which may not be that bad depending on EA, Conserve Power, and if you slot for a little recovery.

And if you took permafrost to use Steadfast Protection...for one, you are already over the S/L softcap without EA and SP. If you want to use Steadfast Protection, I would consider dropping Permafrost (the power isn't doing much for your build), and dropping SP in Tough or Hoarfrost. Taking out PF will also free up another power slot for you.

Just a few ideas, but there are quite literally a ton of views, ideas and ways to go about this.

Thanks to the mission settings, you should pretty much be able to play and solo just about any combo fairly easily, the biggest difference is going to be the speed you actually do it in. Each set has it's own pros and cons, and as you can see from this thread, the opinions are abound as to what works and doesn't based on individual experiences and playstyles.

There are a lot of different playstyles with blasters. Do you want to be more melee based and in their face? Do you want more control? Do you want more ranged? Do you want some AOE goodness with your ranged or melee? Do you want better survival through more damage or mitigation in damage through other means? Do you want to play with a more tactical mindset, or do you want to kick in the door with guns blazing?

Truth is, there is no wrong answer to this. Just whatever you find to be the most fun. My advice, find a concept you like, and stick with it, and find a way to make it work. If you like your energy/energy, then use it. The set offers some good self buffage, knockback, disorients, and some pretty good damage. Personally, I would avoid the nuke (Nova), as most blaster nukes I really don't find to be worth it due to the endurance/recovery issue, which tends to get in the way of dps, but that's just me. I'm sure some others may believe otherwise. And another thing I would recommend is find an aspect of play and focus on it. Do you want to play the ranged game? Stick with the ranged attacks, and try not to take too much melee. Do you want to work more like a blapper and melee it up? Focus your build more towards that and avoid things like the Sniper Blast and Boost Range (if you are spending more time in melee, what good will range do you?).

Blasters like tanks, have some subtle differences in playstyles, and there are many paths to follow that lead to the same destination. Pick your path and have at it.

My personal preference is to play the ranged game and go the hover blaster route. That's where I have the most success survival wise, but again, some others around here can and will say differently.

Glad to hear you found a way to incorporate Gunnie into your sequence, and glad to see you on board with the Gunnie fan club!

Sadly, I don't think so, but I have never played an AR corruptor. I would think Traps would be your best bet, due to laying down your beacons/traps, and have them running while you attack, but having never played traps, can't say the reality of how it works. It seems to be the least active of the secondaries (due to duration times of traps/beacons)...but I don't know how it is in practice.

1) I personally don't know the exact distance you have to be for Gunnie to start firing, I've never tested it. Normally I'll summon him, move into attack position, and he'll do his thing. It's probably less than the full distance of snap shot, but not in melee range, and once he starts, he has a pretty good range. Someone with a definitive answer care to chime in?

2) As for the explosion bit, I've never tested it nor paid attention to what happens to mobs around him when he blows up. Setting that test up is a bit of headache, and it wouldn't really be a reliable way of damaging the baddies even if it did, especially on a hover build, since you are normally above the melee.

3) Yes, I refer to Gunnie as a he, but that by no means makes it male=P

Gun Drone does more damage than VS and actually lasts 90 seconds, and with my set up runs me 24 endurance. At level 50 one endurance reduction SO enhancement knocks the cost down by approximately 10 points (from 39 to 29), if you do a second then approximately another six points (roughly 23 endurance to summon). The costs can be mitigated. As well, you get it for 90 seconds with more damage for a 7 second cast time versus 60 seconds and less damage for VS with a 3.1 sec cast time (and a 26 endurance cost, which can be mitigated fairly well). And considering most of the other final powers in the other secondary power choices are melee oriented with endurance costs comparable to Rain of Arrows with less damage than ROA (shorter recharge and cast times though), personally I don't find it to be that much of a disapointment. I'll happily spend my 24 endurance for 90 seconds of steady damage versus the cost of some of the other final powers and having to get into melee. Having played the set extensively, and through different revisions and power choices, I notice the difference the added dps makes. The more incoming damage, the better.

Popping a blue after you summon it or, and this is my personal choice, IOing for recovery makes a big difference, and maybe this is the big distinction between how we view the power, although, I never found it to be that big of an issue or a drag during the levelling process. If you don't like it, you don't like it. To each their own, and I can respect that point of view, I just don't agree with it when I have experienced something different than you.


Yeah, I agree a lot of these power sets have some odd choices. I still like CD, and would leave it as is, but we each see the glass differently between half full and half empty. I'll stick by CD since I have had a lot of success with it.

**EDIT NOTE - I am going to leave my original statement below as is, but I did misread your statement here, so my answer goes off track as to your point. Yes, a 5% debuff to hit doesn't do much for you if you don't have other defenses to stack it with, and in my original statement, I don't know where you inferred anything about not stacking it with other defenses. I simply pointed out that with the lower defense bases from what is offered to you as a blaster, it can make a difference. Personally, I am advocate of using the other defense powers with a good helping of this on top. If you for some reason neglect the other defense powers, then you have a valid point. This plus CD alone won't do you a whole lot of good, but it can still be beneficial for other team members if grouped defense wise. But in reality, you have nothing really to disagree with me on this point. I agree, by itself, it won't be of much help. Now that I have reread it, your statement is a bit clearer now. I somehow skipped this part "if you don't have other defence to stack it with", but typing/reading and such while trying to rock a crying child to sleep apparently do not mix.**

Considering that the -to hit debuff is subtracted from their to hit along with your defense (yes the equation is much more complicated, but I won't get into it), and considering buffs/debuffs from other party members, then yes it all adds up, even if you yourself aren't close to soft capping, and in teams, it may also make the difference for others (SG is not a selfish power by any means). Factor in your inspirations, and I can say from experience, it can and will make a difference. Functionally, when you are working with more than just your base defenses, it is quite useful, and every little bit adds up. You can say it's mathematically proveable to be the same as 0%, but when I experience the opposite, I have to disagree in the solo and group fields.

Right now my Archery/Devices is just a very tiny bit shy of the softcap. So, SG is not needed as much for me any more, but I find it does make a difference on some of the higher accuracy/to hit based mobs, and four slotted with Dark Watcher's Despair, I get a -7.55% with a chance at minus recharge.

Here, we will have to agree to disagree as with many things. My experience differs greatly than yours as with a few things.

No, inventions don't grow on trees, and yes it is a system not originally implemented in the game, but if you can understand the mathematic functionality of defense, then playing around with and learning IO sets is truly not that difficult. The costs can get expensive depending on what you are looking at getting, but planning, Day Jobs, merits and so forth and so on can mitigate that cost and time factor. It may take you some time to fully IO your toon, but Rome wasn't built in a day.

To learn to play CoH, it took time experience and a little homework. Each update, when they change things, that can change the face of the game, and you often have to learn new things. Before ED, the game was played entirely differently. After ED, if you wanted to stick with the game, you had to learn a new way to play, because the old rules went out the window. The game is constantly changing and evolving, and you can't tell me that if you have played for any length of time, you haven't had to learn one or two new things here and there?

Yeah, I agree, who really wants to work towards a game? You play to have fun, but for me part of the fun is watching my character grow, and I like to feel heroic in a super hero game, and IO sets help. IO sets are fairly quick to learn, there is a lot of easy to access intel on it that makes it painless, and as I am sure you know, if you ask, you can receive some good info on these boards.

How I saved up for my sets? On my blaster, at level 50, it was two weeks worth of work. I farmed a mission in Oro for merits, and with a good team, you can get quite a few in a night, even solo with some missions you can earn them at a good clip. I used merits to start working on what I want to get at a merit vendor, and when I park my toon, I park in Oro for the recipe bonus at mission completion, earning me some fairly nice recipes, some of which are of use, and others which I put up for sale. As well, with the right mission settings, you can plow through mobs for efficient farming and get a steady gain of recipes and salvage that you can sell. It's not that hard, and definitely easier than the levelling process, and you can still play in an easy mode.

I mean seriously, what else are you going to do after 50? I like to revisit my toons from time to time, and I play builds to completion. I almost view it as an extension of the levelling process.

I'm not knocking your playstyle or opinions, so please don't take anything I have said as an attack. I am just trying to open some eyes to a different point of view, and show the usefulness of some powers. What I have found, is that yes, some of the other blasters may be faster through levelling process, but I disagree on easier and safer. A lot of it comes down to the player and playstyle, but I have found the set to be reliable, surviveable, and is the one blaster I have played that made most it's career without a single faceplant (I said most, we all have our days). I never found my Archery/Devices to be weak, and find myself able to hold my own with other blasters.

I was always a big fan of trying to take something others viewed as weak, and trying to make something of it. Hell, back in the day when Fire and Invulnerable tanks were kings of the hill, I was rocking and rolling with and Ice/Ice tank and seeing some good success and results, and this was when Ice/Ice was literally the bottom of the barrel.

In all reality though, Once GR comes out I will find myself playing Blasters less and less, and Corruptors more and more (I still prefer being blueside though), because I have found my Fire/Kin corruptor tears through things fast than any blaster I have ever played, and I really do prefer that combo of a toon that can blast with a good dose of defender style buffs/debuffs. Although, the fun factor of my archery/devices will always bring me back for more.

Mileage may vary between users, but when I am talking about a steady stream of damage, I mean a steady stream of damage. Even before I was fully IO'ed and slotted out (which I never really do for a toon until I start hitting 47), I still found use for Gunnie. Summoned him for tough fights, popped a blue and off I went. He still attacks when you are mezzed, and not to harp on this point, but he is a steady stream of damage, which adds to your DPS, and is nothing to sneeze at. Smaller numbers than your primary attacks yes, but they add up, and help.

Now at 50, I summon him quite a bit. For a 7 sec cast time, he stays standing for a few grouping of mobs when I plow through. Is he a necessity? Not really. Is he fun and adds worthwhile damage, yes. IOed out, Gunnie can take some punishment, and if anyone is trying to use him for tankage though, then they are using him for the wrong thing. I use him as an additional tool for damage/dps. And he is effective at it. But differing points of view here.



As for this...yes, you can achieve Invisibility with two powers. Two powers that have alternate uses, and still find use after you attack, and considering that in the Invisibility power description, you can't attack with it activated, and Invisibility is a bit of an endurance hog, then yeah, I'll take the two powers that do one thing. Hell, you can take Superspeed and use it with CD and achieve invisibility if you so desire. Yeah, two powers doing the same thing, but you aren't having to take stealth, and the two powers combined still drain less endurance than one power.

As for SG and purposes for Defense, even if you aren't pushing the defense cap, as a blaster, a good goal is survivability so you can keep blasting. Even without slotting it fully, it gives a base of -4.9% to hit. Considering most defense powers blasters have access to give 3.5% defense and less, those numbers start to add up. And considering you don't do sets, you should have plenty of slots to use for slotting it and still be able to slot for damage.

Where you see questionable powers, I see powers with some use, but it seems we'll have to concede to different points of view.

Now here, I really have no arguement against anything. I agree you don't need to lay down a minefield for every mob. To some people, it's part of the fun, to others, it's fun every great once in awhile (that would be me). Once upon a time I used to take all of my primary and secondaries, and once upon a time I also never would touch IO sets (don't let my forum join date fool you, I've been around for a long while), but I just got into the mindset of wanting to do something fun, and for me, taking every power for the sake of taking it because it was in a set, was just not fun. I like optimizing my builds, and really find it fun when I can complete a vision, and have it work effectively.

If you aren't touching IO sets, you are missing out on some really good benefits and bonuses that can make your toon perform in surprisingly effective ways, and can make some of the less useful powers more useful. Now, like I said, I won't touch them while I level, I just don't find the process to be cost effective at that point, but I find it worthwhile when I am hitting the end game.

But again, it is all just a matter of opinion, and we seem to have varying opinions, but it seems we can at least both have fun with our toons and find some use out of the set.

Not denying that it's a good combo, but usually when I face a group, I get about the same results. /NRG is nice, but there are some tools others have to even the playing field.

I agree with some of what you said, and disagree with others.

For Gunnie, yeah, the endurance cost is a little steep, but you can knock that cost down, and with the proper slotting, you don't notice it (it's never hurt me to the point of caring, but I recover quick). The steady stream of damage is worth it to me, cast times (7 seconds) and all, but that's just me.

Smoke Grenade is also a worthwhile tool. Currently I get a -to hit buff of 7.55%. That little number makes SG more than just a sneak up to TB them tool, and turns it into a valid tool of defense. It's really good little debuff, and if you find yourself lacking in defense numbers can really help you survive some tough fights.

And no, CD is not the best defense power in the game. Personally I stated it is one of the best, but that is just my little own opinion, and I should clarify that by stating it is one of the best defense powers in the game that Blasters can get. It gives about as much defense as CJ/Hover after you attack (still enough to help me get over the defense softcap), you get stealthy goodness before you do attack, no movement penalty when you do stealth, and you can double dip on global recharge buffs if you are so inclined by taking 5 IOs out of the Red Fortune set, and the +7.5% global recharge IO out of LOTG. In my estimation, all the above makes it exceedingly worth it. Weave is good with higher numbers, but you have to be willing to go through the fighting pool to get it, and that just doesn't fit in some tight builds, and Frozen Armor from the Epics gives you around a 10% to defense, but that is to S/L, which does me no real good on a hover blaster when you are looking to your Ranged Defense. So yeah, still sticking with my opinion on that.

Caltrops...I like you don't use it, but it can have it's place in a hover build. I know some people will lay out their mine field, toss caltrops over it, then attack their mobs. This will cause the mobs to run slower through the field, and some people seem to find that running through the caltrops with trip mines makes it more likely that they will hit more of the mines thanks to the slower movement rate. Have not tested this myself.

On laying down mines...yeah, that can kill your levelling speed if you lay them out for every mob, but it can be helpful if you find yourself looking at a tough group of mobs, and is just all around fun from time to time. I really only drop the one mine nowadays before my attack chain starts, but from time, I will still find myself laying out a field for fun. Tactically it can be very useful, but not really a "need". If I ever feel the need to toe bomb, I'll drop about two to three trip mines around the mobs, and get several smaller strong bangs than the one big bang. This way, I'm not under as short of a timer, and two trip mines alone will generally out damage a time bomb if set off, and you have less KB to worry about.

It should be noted - that really effective hammer can be found in some of the other secondaries as well, and gives the exact same bonus. I think removing the need for fancier tools 95% of the time is a bit of an overestimation, but having played /NRG on another blaster, I'll state this about the set -

If I were going for pure range on my blaster, the set offers three really good powers for a pure ranged character, and a fourth power that will help you from time to time if you find yourself blowing through endurance.

Build Up - The aforementioned hammer. You can get this on other sets, but the benefit with /NRG is you get it earlier. This buff lasts for like 10 seconds or so, and it's normal recharge is once every 90 seconds. On another toon, I have it and aim set to recharge once every 24 seconds or so (when hasten is up), but that took hasten and a lot of IO sets. This and aim is a really effective hammer. Dropping a single trip mine really isn't a replacement for a good Build Up. It does help, and if you have the patience to drop a mine field that your bad guys are going to be lured into, you'll see some very impressive results that may make you forget about build up...good solo, not so much in teams, unless that team is patient enough to let you drop a field. Like I said earlier, you can ease the blow of not having this through the chance for build up procs. From my personal experiences, this works just fine for me on my /Devices blaster.

Conserve Power - This is good if you find yourself running through a ton of endurance. Down side is, it's on a long recharge timer, and isn't up as often as I would like.

Power Boost - This is really going to affect two of your archery attacks, and can have an effect on some power pool power choices, and will have a good effect on the /NRG melee powers. You can get more disorient from your Stunning Shot, and more Knockback from your Explosive Arrow, which more knockback on EA isn't always a desireable thing if your working with a tightly controlled group of mobs, but can be fun.

Boost Range - Self explanatory. If you feel you need to be further away from your foes, this is the power for you, and with three level 50 recharge IOs, this power is .1 seconds away from being perma, not a bad deal, and not too hard to push this ability into the perma arena.

/NRG also offers some good melee options if you are going for a more in your face approach, and a really good Mag 4 stun on Total Focus. My /Nrg toon really only used Build, Power Boost, and Boost Range. The up side was that I had plenty of power choices open for power pool powers.

This is just my opinion, and in no way meant to be taken as fact, but having played both, /Devices feels to be a bit more survivable, and offers a steady stream of damage with some really fun toys. /NRG offers a pretty big bang when it is up, some good self buffs and some good melee options.

Both are viable options, and running in groups with blasters at level 50, I don't find myself to be any less effective, and hold my own. But, since the OP stated this is more of a solo project, imho, the toolbox will serve the OP exceedingly well.

Just to clarify on the Gaussian's, you don't have to slot the whole set to get the chance for the chance for build up. That is a very specific enhancement in the set. I have it six slotted on my blaster, because it does give some very nice little bonuses.

I'll comment on here because I have a level 50 Archery/Devices blaster. The setup is extremely fun to play, and pretty darn effective. Now, you won't be pulling out the damage of NRG and won't have the control of MM, but as /Devices, you do have some nice tools, and some subtle ways of enhancing your damage with some good tools for survival.

Web Grenade is a good tool in the early game, personally, I don't use it much anymore, instead focusing more on the AOE side of things.

Caltrops...a lot of people swear by it, but with my playstyle, and being a hover blaster, I don't have it in my build currently. Depending on if you go the hover or the ground pounding route will probably be the biggest deciding factor on how much use you'll get out of it.

Taser...again, I play at range, and this requires you to be a little closer than I get. Can it be coupled with Stunning Shot for a good disorient effect? Sure. But since I don't have stunning shot, I won't say much more, except taser will cause redraw, which can interrupt an attack chain.

Targetting Drone, this is the good stuff. Especially slotted with Gaussian's. With Gaussian's and this running you can have a chance for Build Up, which procs fairly often for me, and can be one tool to make up for lack of build up. Also, if you take the Decimation with Chance for Build Up and slot it in one of your Single Target Attacks, then you may not miss Build Up. Also, with TD running and the higher base accuracy of archery, you don't have to worry as much about slotting multiple accuracy enhancements, and will find yourself hitting more than other blasters, which in my estimation also makes up for not having build up. A steady stream of hits can be a good thing.

Smoke Grenade - This is good to use when sneaking around. Coupled with Cloaking Device, this will afford you the tools you need to stealth through missions, or sneak up close to a group of mobs to set up mines. As for me, I do have this slotted with a chance of recharge slow, which if it procs it will aggro the mobs, although, I no longer use this for stealth, I use it for debuffing, the -to hit and the slow recharge when it procs can be nice little things to have running.

Cloaking Device - This is probably one of the best defense powers in the game. You get stealth, no movement penalty, and defense. Take it, use it, love it. Couple this with Super Speed, and you have invisibility. Only mobs with high perception will see you (like Rikti Drones).

Trip Mine - This power has a few good uses, especially for those that are tactically minded. Drop your mine field before you attack, and watch the fireworks. Also, dropping one of these before you attack gives you a small damage boost, and this is what a lot of people use to help make up for the lack of build up. You can use this with Hover on, but you have to be close to the ground. Usually, I'll hover close to the ground, drop a mine, hit Aim, then use my AOEs, and then fly up if I need to. Pretty devastating, and even more so when build up procs.

Time Bomb - I like this power. I really do. But I don't have it currently. I slotted it out to focus more on my ability to use the archery AOEs, and Trip Mine was just faster, and more economical for my playstyle. It is fun to stealth in, drop one of these, back out, hit Rain of Arrows, Fistful if you have time, and then see what is left standing after the time bomb goes off.

Gun Drone - Ah, Gunnie, my little buddy. I love Gunnie. This is another one of those subtle ways to boost your damage, because he is nothing but a little flying box that spits an endless stream of bullets. Six slotted with Expedient Reinforcement gives you some good bonuses (currently what I am doing), although some people prefer to slot him with procs.

As for the Archery powers, the only ones I skipped are Ranged Shot...animation time is too long, and it really just doesn't flow with my attack sequence, and interrupts DPS. The other one is Stunning Shot...like I said, I am about AOEs, and it just doesn't flow with how I do things. Personally, I fight bosses, EBs and such, and don't really miss it (have yet to try an AV solo, but in groups I do fine).

One last thing to throw out...your Epics. If you go this route, be wary of Munitions. It looks good on paper with a minor AOE and LRM, but, that's going to cause you a lot of redraw in an attack chain, and I found really not to be worth it when you can spec your nuke, ROA, to recharge quickly and pack one hell of a punch. You will still have some redraw with Devices, but if you use your set up powers before you attack, you won't really notice it, and your buffs are toggles, so you won't cause redraw by trying to self buff.

I use Flame Mastery for my epic, and use advanced technology to explain the flame powers in my build. If you look in another thread found in this forum dealing with Melt Armor versus Bonfire, you'll see my stance on some of the flame powers, but I will state, I don't find Melt Armor to be worth it.

Now, once upon a time, NRG's buffs used to cause redraw, and I don't know if that is still the case, but that is what kept me away from NRG back in the day. And if memory serves me well, MM's attacks and buffs will cause redraw as well, but then again, I may be grossly misinformed with recent changes, and if so, please someone correct me. Not to say you can't have a successful build with NRG or MM, because many people do.

Let's see -

On the PVP IO, for the level 50 version, yeah, about 2 billion, BUT I got a level 15 version for 200 million. A very rare find, and very lucky.

And yes, the build was painfully expensive. Expensive to the point that I cried a little each time I bought something. The key here for farming for the influence/merits was to find short, quick and easy Oro story arcs to run through for merits, and when I logged out, to log out in Oro for the recipe bonus.

I ran at +6 heroes, -1 level, which seemed to let me plow through missions at a good pace. I can't say exactly how long it took me to earn the infamy, but at 2-3 hours a night for a few nights, you can earn quite a bit, especially if you get some good recipe drops (one or two purple recipes can make a huge impact on your night).

As for travel, when I started, I relied on CJ/Siphon Speed, the jump pack, and various temporary travel powers, couple that with Base Teleporters, Oro, Black Market Teleporters, and the Mission Teleporter, and well I never really found CJ/SIphon Speed to be that troublesome. I eventually got the Martial Arts pack, and started to use Ninja Run as well.

Now, on to the big thing, lack of Accuracy slotting. With just FA running, right now most of my de/buffs run between approximately 130-158% chance to hit, which is fairly respectable chance to hit. Now, I have three other things going in my favor - Gaussian's Chance for Build Up, which seems to proc quite a bit for me in FA, Decimation's Chance for Build Up, which while it doesn't proc as much as Gaussian's, it still procs enough for me to notice it, and the final, most reliable thing I have, Aim.

Aim with hasten up recharges every 24-25 secs with one application of Siphon Speed. With a 10 second duration, on average I am only without it for a 14-15 sec period at a time. So with current slotting, I have to respectfully disagree and say that I hit AVs more than I miss. This has worked as a very effective farm build, and pretty much effective for just about anything else I have wanted to do (teams/solo).

I do understand your reservations on first glance, but this build has taken a bit to rework and refine and obtain the IOs for, and trust me, when I say it works, it works.

Now I just have a tanker and blaster I need to get up to specs, but alt-itis is making that a difficult prospect.

As others have stated, Melt Armor sounds way cooler than it actually is. I used it extensively for a period of time, and finally decided it just is not worth it.

As for Char versus Bonfire, personally I get more use out of Bonfire, but it's going to come down to preference and playstyle. If you find yourself using holds quite a bit, then you'll get more mileage out of Char.

Bonfire is more of a situational kind of power, and not one you just throw in the midst of a group of mobs all willy nilly, unless you just like to create chaos, anger groups, and make more work for yourself in the mob killing department.

When in groups I'll use Bonfire to create kind a safe zone for the more squishy types to stand in, I can also use it to help push some mobs where they are needed. Also I have to disagree with the thought that it can't be used when you are in trouble, I've used it plenty of times to scatter mobs to save myself or others, you just have to be fast enough to spot the trouble and use it in a timely manner.

I find it's best uses are indoor missions. Being a hover blaster, indoor missions can really hinder the hover part of your build, so I'll either drop it at my feet or in a narrow hall in front of me to help push back those mobs that survive my first attack chain, and keep them off of me.

As for the fast mobs that can run through it between ticks, and I can only speak of my personal experiences here, I really don't find them to be too much of an issue. Generally they run in, then get pushed through and right into the mine field I like to set up behind the Bonfire (I really only do that one solo). I also haven't experienced too many mobs making it through though.

Just remember, if you take the power, use it for what it is, a situational power that can be exceedingly useful. Don't take it and try to use it as another AOE attack.

Depends on your setup. I play a archery/devices/fire, and personally, I'll toss out Bonfire on the edges of the group before starting my attack chain, which will damage and keep them in RoAs range for the full tick. Seems to work for me.